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Okay, so I realise I'm about a week behind everyone else in doing this. In my defense (or possibly not), I have to say that despite being on LJ for four years, this is the first time I've been aware of Festivids at all (I've never been really involved in the vidding end of fandom). But. This year I was, so I've spent the past week going through the 2011 masterlist, and these are the vids I kept coming back to. 12 fandoms, a surprising number of which I didn't previously know at all.
12 Vids:
Batman movies (Burton) - Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight
Because it's Jack Nicholson's Joker, having a wonderful time. *grins* I love the timing, and I love Bruce's expressions, and that ending was awesome. Wrong, but awesome. Heh. And I think one of the reviewers on the vid pointed out the perfection of that line, 'the things that bother you, never bother me', because that is the Joker, and it's what makes him so frigging terrifying, in all versions.
Cabaret - Hot in Herre
I ... would never in a million years have put this movie to that song, but ... see, for some reason, it kinda works. For the air of decadence sliding inevitably into darkness, which pretty much was Weimar Berlin as portrayed in Cabaret. I love how nakedness, over the course of the vid, starts meaning less power, and more utter helplessness as the violence closes in around them, and they're trying to keep laughing regardless. And I love, love what the vid does with Joel Grey's MC. He was always my favourite, because of the Harlequin-esque nature of his character (poised between the audience and the play, seeing everything), and here he's just as sinister and funny and damned as he was in the movie.
Capital Scandal - Karaoke Soul
I have no idea what the canon for this one is, but suddenly I want to. I want to know who these people are, especially what looks to be the older couple - on a shallow note, both the older man and the older woman have gorgeous eyes. And ... it's what looks for all the world like 1930's Korean noir. Why wouldn't I be intrigued?
Cemetary Man - TiK ToK
Again, I've no idea of the canon on this one, and judging from the looks of it, I probably wouldn't particularly like it even if I did (zombies, and black comedy with that much of a gross factor, usually aren't my thing). So ... why do I like the vid? Because of the way it makes the whole work-all-day-kill-zombies-all-night thing look like just his life. That it's the kind of unremarkable for him that just slowly grids him under, like it's just another day at the office, even as he appears to be slowly losing touch with who's dead, who's alive, and what the difference between them is. It ... I don't know. It tells a story, in under 2 minutes, that means something, even if that something is darkly comic and more than a little gross. I like that. Two minutes is usually all the zombies I can bear, anyway, so it pretty much wins. Heh.
Great Mouse Detective - My Aviator
It's Great Mouse Detective. Really, that's pretty much all I needed to know. Add in the line 'A tale of two adventurers, in glorious technicolour', for the win. And I love the little sequence in the middle where Dawson gets a little rage montage because Basil is just that frustrating, and Basil looks all bewildered for a minute, then apologises/acts like a friend. Because that? That's why I love them. Why I loved Holmes and Watson, too. Because for each of those detectives, there is one person in the world who a) puts up with their shit, b) is not afraid to call them on it, and c) makes them want to apologise for it. *grins*
Immortal Beloved - Love Reign O'er Me
I'd never heard of this movie. Judging from the title, I thought for a minute that it was a vampire flick of some kind (wrong, but even looking back on it, can you blame me? Gary Oldman plus period drama plus that title ... any wonder I was thinking Dracula?). And then I spent the first three minutes of the vid the first time around yelling at the screen in an attempt to make the male lead hold still long enough for me to figure out why he looked familiar (Gary Oldman, he does this to me - I knew he was going to be in Batman Begins, too, and watched all the way through the movie wondering 'Where's Gary Oldman?', got to the credits and realised I'd been watching him the whole time, he'd been right there as Commissioner Gordon. *shrugs* Facial recognition, I'm bad at it ...). So ... again, why like it?
At first, because of the story and the emotion it told. Pain and humiliation and passion and desire, both for music and for people. And the second time around, when I realised who he was, when I realised the movie was about Beethoven ... that was so much worse/better. I missed the first time around, that when he rests his head on the piano that time, it's so he can feel the vibrations, so he can hear it, and when she touches his shoulder and he panics, it's because he couldn't hear her coming. The second time around, that's the part of the vid where you start to realise how much this love hurts him, after that, and it's kinda beautiful. (Or, presumably, the first time around, if you actually know the canon to start with - *shrugs sheepishly*)
Jeeves and Wooster - The Undeserving Rich
I went through a phase a while back, of looking at Jeeves and Wooster vids, and a lot of them were slash. Which I don't mind, but ... See, this vid is about two things. It's about Bertie's social class of the day, which, in canon, are almost universally pretty much exactly as portrayed in this vid - the undeserving rich. And it's about the fact that Jeeves is the single competent human being in canon, and the force that basically carries them through their lives with as little damage as possible. 'With a little bit of Luck', in this universe, basically meaning 'with some help from Jeeves'. I love that Jeeves in this isn't just Bertie's love interest. I love that he's flat-out Bertie's saviour and minder instead. Which, to be honest, is more or less the truth of the matter. It's horrible, but I love how the vid, as it comes to an end, puts Jeeves on his own, gloriously competent and having the time of his life, against Bertie on his own, hungover and falling on his face, pretty much waiting for Jeeves to arrive.
Ladyhawke - Bells, Books and Candles
Okay. I love Ladyhawke, yes? I love pretty much the entire 80s fantasy canon - Legend and Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and Neverending Story (the first one), the Last Unicorn and Ladyhawke (lot of 'L's, I'm noticing). And Ladyhawke was just ... so elegant and mystical, and Navarre/Isabeau was my ship for so long, and I loved Mouse so much. So I love this vid, which is, basically, elegant and mystical and powerful and about love, and there's a bit somewhere in the middle, where the song outlines Isabeau/Navarre as love, but Phillipe as life ('harmony, love' over the dawn transformation sequence, 'being itself' over Phillipe in the stable with Isabeau), how 'thou art there' actually covers all of them, not just the lovers. And, too, I love what the vid did with the Bishop. Heh.
Last Exile - Sophia's Song
I haven't watched Last Exile in ages, and to be honest I'd mostly forgotten quite a lot of the plot. But I love this vid anyway, because it focuses on Sophia, who doesn't get half as much attention as, say, Alex Rowe, or Claus & Lavie, or Dio & Lucciola. The only thing I would have liked better was something on Mullin Shetland. Heh. But Sophia rocks too. *grins*
Miracles - Saint With A Fever
I'm not sure to this day how I bounced to Miracles. I just found it on youtube, watched a couple of episodes, and sort of fell in love. The fandom is kind of disappointingly small. *sighs* But this vid ... First, I love the song choice, and the line 'you hollow the space; where they darken the ground; with weary precision; you lower them down', which is perfect (and heartbreaking) for both Miracles in general, and Alva in particular. And second, the vid is about Alva. I love Alva Keel, for all he is such an asshole sometimes, and for all that he hasn't the first clue what to do with people on more than a five-minute basis. I love how the vid outlines how he tries to be there for people (Debbie, Paul), and it keeps ... not working for him. And I love, love, the comparison at the end, how Paul struggles through the whole thing with 'God is now here', but for Alva, it has always been 'God is nowhere', and that's why Paul means so much to him. Heh.
The Shadow - Under My Skin
*grins* Okay. The movie was crap. Seriously, seriously crap. Camp and cheesy and ridiculous, and it had nothing on the radio show, and my gods, the issues with the canon, but ... But it was camp and cheesy in period costume (the green dress, his red signet ring, the long black coat with the shoulder holsters on the outside), and there are times I am ridiculously easy to please, okay? Plus, the sequence where she's mind-controlled to 'I tried so not to give in, I said to myself, this affair, it won't go so well', which is perfect, both in context of her killing him, and him/her loving each other. Heh. Because, let's be fair, he's kinda a horrible human being. But then, that's rather the point of the vid.
Yes (Prime) Minister - A Little Less Conversation
First thing you have to realise is, I hate politics. Hate them and loathe them, and more to the point have zero interest in them. As in, none whatsoever. So, you know, a show where three middle aged men do nothing except sit around and discuss politics ... it probably shouldn't have appealed as much as it did. (I blame the snark - the snark in Yes Minister reaches such epic levels that I'm surprised the three of them haven't overdosed and died, seriously - also, it gave me some fabulous debating quotes, but that's neither here nor there). So even my watching this show was kinda a miracle. But this vid ... This vid sort of illustrates why you watch the show anyway. Heh.
First, the song. Because this is the perfect song for Y(P)M, where it's all conversation, and the conflict between politicians and the civil service means there probably won't ever be action, and that was sort of the point. And yes, it satisfactions neither of them, and I love how the vid makes it clear that both Hacker and Humphrey expect the other to do the satisfactioning, which is quite a lot of their problem. Second, because of the expressions. The snark sort of disguises the fact that the physical comedy in the series was second to none, and though it's mostly Hacker's face you're watching, Humphrey gets his share. I love how it uses that, especially at the end, where Hacker so obviously thinks he's won, until the last shot, where you watch his face as he realises that, yet again, there's something he's overlooked. *grins* It's just ... so perfect for the pair of them. (And also, randomly, I didn't realise how much of the show Hacker apparently spent trying to liquor up Bernard - the sequence where all three of them resort to drink, while kinda dark, surprised me with that. Heh). Basically, it's the perfect Yes Minister vid.
Batman movies (Burton) - Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight
Because it's Jack Nicholson's Joker, having a wonderful time. *grins* I love the timing, and I love Bruce's expressions, and that ending was awesome. Wrong, but awesome. Heh. And I think one of the reviewers on the vid pointed out the perfection of that line, 'the things that bother you, never bother me', because that is the Joker, and it's what makes him so frigging terrifying, in all versions.
Cabaret - Hot in Herre
I ... would never in a million years have put this movie to that song, but ... see, for some reason, it kinda works. For the air of decadence sliding inevitably into darkness, which pretty much was Weimar Berlin as portrayed in Cabaret. I love how nakedness, over the course of the vid, starts meaning less power, and more utter helplessness as the violence closes in around them, and they're trying to keep laughing regardless. And I love, love what the vid does with Joel Grey's MC. He was always my favourite, because of the Harlequin-esque nature of his character (poised between the audience and the play, seeing everything), and here he's just as sinister and funny and damned as he was in the movie.
Capital Scandal - Karaoke Soul
I have no idea what the canon for this one is, but suddenly I want to. I want to know who these people are, especially what looks to be the older couple - on a shallow note, both the older man and the older woman have gorgeous eyes. And ... it's what looks for all the world like 1930's Korean noir. Why wouldn't I be intrigued?
Cemetary Man - TiK ToK
Again, I've no idea of the canon on this one, and judging from the looks of it, I probably wouldn't particularly like it even if I did (zombies, and black comedy with that much of a gross factor, usually aren't my thing). So ... why do I like the vid? Because of the way it makes the whole work-all-day-kill-zombies-all-night thing look like just his life. That it's the kind of unremarkable for him that just slowly grids him under, like it's just another day at the office, even as he appears to be slowly losing touch with who's dead, who's alive, and what the difference between them is. It ... I don't know. It tells a story, in under 2 minutes, that means something, even if that something is darkly comic and more than a little gross. I like that. Two minutes is usually all the zombies I can bear, anyway, so it pretty much wins. Heh.
Great Mouse Detective - My Aviator
It's Great Mouse Detective. Really, that's pretty much all I needed to know. Add in the line 'A tale of two adventurers, in glorious technicolour', for the win. And I love the little sequence in the middle where Dawson gets a little rage montage because Basil is just that frustrating, and Basil looks all bewildered for a minute, then apologises/acts like a friend. Because that? That's why I love them. Why I loved Holmes and Watson, too. Because for each of those detectives, there is one person in the world who a) puts up with their shit, b) is not afraid to call them on it, and c) makes them want to apologise for it. *grins*
Immortal Beloved - Love Reign O'er Me
I'd never heard of this movie. Judging from the title, I thought for a minute that it was a vampire flick of some kind (wrong, but even looking back on it, can you blame me? Gary Oldman plus period drama plus that title ... any wonder I was thinking Dracula?). And then I spent the first three minutes of the vid the first time around yelling at the screen in an attempt to make the male lead hold still long enough for me to figure out why he looked familiar (Gary Oldman, he does this to me - I knew he was going to be in Batman Begins, too, and watched all the way through the movie wondering 'Where's Gary Oldman?', got to the credits and realised I'd been watching him the whole time, he'd been right there as Commissioner Gordon. *shrugs* Facial recognition, I'm bad at it ...). So ... again, why like it?
At first, because of the story and the emotion it told. Pain and humiliation and passion and desire, both for music and for people. And the second time around, when I realised who he was, when I realised the movie was about Beethoven ... that was so much worse/better. I missed the first time around, that when he rests his head on the piano that time, it's so he can feel the vibrations, so he can hear it, and when she touches his shoulder and he panics, it's because he couldn't hear her coming. The second time around, that's the part of the vid where you start to realise how much this love hurts him, after that, and it's kinda beautiful. (Or, presumably, the first time around, if you actually know the canon to start with - *shrugs sheepishly*)
Jeeves and Wooster - The Undeserving Rich
I went through a phase a while back, of looking at Jeeves and Wooster vids, and a lot of them were slash. Which I don't mind, but ... See, this vid is about two things. It's about Bertie's social class of the day, which, in canon, are almost universally pretty much exactly as portrayed in this vid - the undeserving rich. And it's about the fact that Jeeves is the single competent human being in canon, and the force that basically carries them through their lives with as little damage as possible. 'With a little bit of Luck', in this universe, basically meaning 'with some help from Jeeves'. I love that Jeeves in this isn't just Bertie's love interest. I love that he's flat-out Bertie's saviour and minder instead. Which, to be honest, is more or less the truth of the matter. It's horrible, but I love how the vid, as it comes to an end, puts Jeeves on his own, gloriously competent and having the time of his life, against Bertie on his own, hungover and falling on his face, pretty much waiting for Jeeves to arrive.
Ladyhawke - Bells, Books and Candles
Okay. I love Ladyhawke, yes? I love pretty much the entire 80s fantasy canon - Legend and Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and Neverending Story (the first one), the Last Unicorn and Ladyhawke (lot of 'L's, I'm noticing). And Ladyhawke was just ... so elegant and mystical, and Navarre/Isabeau was my ship for so long, and I loved Mouse so much. So I love this vid, which is, basically, elegant and mystical and powerful and about love, and there's a bit somewhere in the middle, where the song outlines Isabeau/Navarre as love, but Phillipe as life ('harmony, love' over the dawn transformation sequence, 'being itself' over Phillipe in the stable with Isabeau), how 'thou art there' actually covers all of them, not just the lovers. And, too, I love what the vid did with the Bishop. Heh.
Last Exile - Sophia's Song
I haven't watched Last Exile in ages, and to be honest I'd mostly forgotten quite a lot of the plot. But I love this vid anyway, because it focuses on Sophia, who doesn't get half as much attention as, say, Alex Rowe, or Claus & Lavie, or Dio & Lucciola. The only thing I would have liked better was something on Mullin Shetland. Heh. But Sophia rocks too. *grins*
Miracles - Saint With A Fever
I'm not sure to this day how I bounced to Miracles. I just found it on youtube, watched a couple of episodes, and sort of fell in love. The fandom is kind of disappointingly small. *sighs* But this vid ... First, I love the song choice, and the line 'you hollow the space; where they darken the ground; with weary precision; you lower them down', which is perfect (and heartbreaking) for both Miracles in general, and Alva in particular. And second, the vid is about Alva. I love Alva Keel, for all he is such an asshole sometimes, and for all that he hasn't the first clue what to do with people on more than a five-minute basis. I love how the vid outlines how he tries to be there for people (Debbie, Paul), and it keeps ... not working for him. And I love, love, the comparison at the end, how Paul struggles through the whole thing with 'God is now here', but for Alva, it has always been 'God is nowhere', and that's why Paul means so much to him. Heh.
The Shadow - Under My Skin
*grins* Okay. The movie was crap. Seriously, seriously crap. Camp and cheesy and ridiculous, and it had nothing on the radio show, and my gods, the issues with the canon, but ... But it was camp and cheesy in period costume (the green dress, his red signet ring, the long black coat with the shoulder holsters on the outside), and there are times I am ridiculously easy to please, okay? Plus, the sequence where she's mind-controlled to 'I tried so not to give in, I said to myself, this affair, it won't go so well', which is perfect, both in context of her killing him, and him/her loving each other. Heh. Because, let's be fair, he's kinda a horrible human being. But then, that's rather the point of the vid.
Yes (Prime) Minister - A Little Less Conversation
First thing you have to realise is, I hate politics. Hate them and loathe them, and more to the point have zero interest in them. As in, none whatsoever. So, you know, a show where three middle aged men do nothing except sit around and discuss politics ... it probably shouldn't have appealed as much as it did. (I blame the snark - the snark in Yes Minister reaches such epic levels that I'm surprised the three of them haven't overdosed and died, seriously - also, it gave me some fabulous debating quotes, but that's neither here nor there). So even my watching this show was kinda a miracle. But this vid ... This vid sort of illustrates why you watch the show anyway. Heh.
First, the song. Because this is the perfect song for Y(P)M, where it's all conversation, and the conflict between politicians and the civil service means there probably won't ever be action, and that was sort of the point. And yes, it satisfactions neither of them, and I love how the vid makes it clear that both Hacker and Humphrey expect the other to do the satisfactioning, which is quite a lot of their problem. Second, because of the expressions. The snark sort of disguises the fact that the physical comedy in the series was second to none, and though it's mostly Hacker's face you're watching, Humphrey gets his share. I love how it uses that, especially at the end, where Hacker so obviously thinks he's won, until the last shot, where you watch his face as he realises that, yet again, there's something he's overlooked. *grins* It's just ... so perfect for the pair of them. (And also, randomly, I didn't realise how much of the show Hacker apparently spent trying to liquor up Bernard - the sequence where all three of them resort to drink, while kinda dark, surprised me with that. Heh). Basically, it's the perfect Yes Minister vid.
